🔻 Eizenkot: Israel urgently needs a new leader

Gadi Eizenkot, who has been tasked by the Israeli president with forming a government, says Israel urgently needs a new leader.

Mr. Eizenkot said that “forming an emergency national government” requires steps “creative and beyond conventional frameworks,” and stressed that “Israel does not have the opportunity to prolong the government-formation process or return once again to endless election cycles.”

In Israel’s parliamentary election, none of the parties or political blocs secured the threshold needed to form a government, and Isaac Herzog, the president, after consulting with the leaders of the parties, appointed Mr. Eizenkot to form a government.

Mr. Eizenkot, who said that Benjamin Netanyahu can be present in his government if he supports Eizenkot’s leadership, said:

“This is a fateful test for leadership. Whoever, for personal reasons—not substantive reasons—tries to obstruct the formation of this government will be remembered in history as someone who, during an emergency, failed to save Israel.”

Today, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, referring to the result of the U.S. congressional election, warned that Israel will face conditions that are unclear and developments that are unpredictable, and that it needs a stable government more than at any time.

Earlier, Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, called for “unity” against the “nuclear threat from Iran,” and warned: “Our work with Iran is not finished.”